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In the United States, greyfield land (or grayfield) is a formerly-viable retail and commercial shopping site (such as regional malls and strip centers) that has suffered from lack of reinvestment and been "outclassed" by larger, better-designed, better-anchored malls or shopping sites. These particular greyfield sites are also referred to as "dead malls" or "ghostboxes" if the anchor or other major tenants have vacated the premises leaving behind empty shells. [1] The term was coined in the early 2000s from the "sea" of empty asphalt concrete that often accompanies these sites.
The "greyfield" term may also be applied more broadly to urban infill or commercial locations where underuse or outdated (non-retail) uses hamper an otherwise valuable real estate asset. An example would be a formerly industrial waterfront site that is potentially valuable as a mixed use/residential site as it is being encroached upon by residential sprawl, or other economic or redevelopment pressures. In this example, the revitalization of the greyfield may require zoning changes and/or a public-private partnership of some kind to achieve the highest and best use.
In 2001 the Congress for the New Urbanism coined the term "greyfield," which refers to aging strips of development that once served as vital commercial corridors during the post-World War II suburban exodus but have today fallen on harder times. [2] In contrast to contaminated brownfields and undeveloped greenfields, greyfields refer to "so-called 'dead malls,' often characterized by the vast empty asphalt parking lots that surround them." [3]
The most conservative calculations in 1999 estimated that there would be no fewer than 203 American greyfield malls with a combined outstanding debt of over $2 billion and projected redevelopment costs of over $11 billion by 2004. In 2001, of the 2,000 American regional malls, it was estimated that nearly 20% were greyfield malls or in danger of becoming one. [3]
Examples of greyfields in American cities are the Central City Mall in San Bernardino, California; the Prestonwood Town Center in Dallas, Texas; the Maple Hill Pavilion in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and the Lafayette Plaza in Bridgeport, Connecticut. [4]
An average site size of 45 acres (18 ha). These sites are both smaller and less connected to the regional transportation system than those housing America's best-performing malls, which average over 70 acres (28 ha) in size, with freeway visibility and direct ramp access. [3]
Located in established neighborhoods and shopping districts and on suburban arterials with bus service, many are already bus hubs. [3]
They have formidable competition; on average, greyfield malls have 2.3 million square feet (210,000 m2) million square feet of competing retail space in 22 other centers within 5 miles (8.0 km). They are often older and smaller than the most successful malls in their region. [3]
Conventional renovations will not be sufficient to breathe new life into many properties. A facelift will do little to help. A new anchor store, depending on the center's position in the market, may not do much either. [3]
Critical factors necessary for the redevelopment of a greyfield site include the following: [3]
Lessons from successful greyfield transformations are based on the case studies conducted by the Congress for New Urbanism. These sites were the Paseo Colorado development in Pasadena, California; the City Place development in Long Beach, California; the Belmar development in Lakewood, Colorado; the Downtown Park Forest development in Park Forest, Illinois; the Mizner Park development in Boca Raton, Florida; and the Winter Park Village development in Winter Park, Florida. The lessons learned in this study were: [3]
A shopping mall is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term mall originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming increasingly commonplace. In the United Kingdom and other countries, shopping malls may be called shopping centers.
A shopping center, shopping centre, also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. Many of them face major traffic arterials and tend to be self-contained with few pedestrian connections to surrounding neighborhoods. Smaller strip malls may be called mini-malls, while larger ones may be called power centers or big box centers. In 2013, The New York Times reported that the United States had 65,840 strip malls. In 2020, The Wall Street Journal wrote that in the United States, despite the continuing retail apocalypse starting around 2010, investments and visitor numbers were increasing to strip malls.
A dead mall, also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall or abandoned mall, is a shopping mall with low consumer traffic level or is deteriorating in some manner.
Hilltop Mall was a regional shopping center in the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond, California. Hilltop was managed and co-owned by Prologis, Inc. The only anchor store left is Walmart. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Macy's, JCPenney and Sears.
Columbus City Center was a 1,250,000 sq ft (116,000 m2), three-level shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. It was located in the city's downtown, near the Ohio Statehouse, next to the Ohio Theatre, and connected to the Hyatt on Capitol Square hotel. The mall closed and was demolished in 2009. The mall had a large adjacent parking structure attached that remains in use. The parking structure has been joined, directly or via bridge respectively, to two 12 story structures, 250 S. High Street and 80 on the Commons, both of which feature lower level office spaces with residential spaces on the upper floors.
The Waterfront is a super-regional open air shopping mall spanning the three boroughs of Homestead, West Homestead, and Munhall near Pittsburgh. The shopping mall sits on land once occupied by U.S. Steel's Homestead Steel Works plant, which closed in 1986. It has a gross leasable area of 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) in "The Waterfront" and 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) in "The Town Center." The development officially opened in 1999. More development continued into the early 21st century.
North Hills is a mixed use development located in Raleigh, North Carolina that includes stores, restaurants, entertainment, commercial offices, residential living and a continuing care retirement community. There is a large outdoor commons area which features events such as live concerts, festivals, and a farmers' market.
The Galleria Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Dufferin and Dupont Streets. The mall is in the process of being redeveloped into a mixed-use development. As it is in process of being demolished, only half of the building remains.
Seaview Square Mall was a shopping mall located in Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. It has been repurposed as a power center and was renamed Seaview Square Shopping Center in 2012. The 856,000-square-foot (79,500 m2) mall, located at the intersection of Route 35 and Route 66, was originally constructed in 1977 as an indoor mall. It faced stiff competition from the more upscale Monmouth Mall, located five miles (8 km) further north on Route 35 in Eatontown. One of its four anchors never opened, and several smaller stores, and Stern's and Steinbach, two of its anchors, were victims of the then-indoor mall's then-state of decline. The mall was later redeveloped into a shopping center with Target, Costco, Burlington, Home Sense, Siera Trading, Marshalls, Home Goods, Petsmart, Starbucks, and others.
Cooper Carry is a U.S.-based design firm providing architecture, planning, landscape architecture, interior design and environmental graphic design. The company is based in Atlanta with offices in Alexandria, Virginia; New York City; and.
Vallco Shopping Mall is a mostly-demolished dead mall located in Cupertino, California, United States. Originally built as a single-story shopping mall in 1976 with a lower level added in 1988 and a third-level movie theater added in 2007, it was anchored for most of its existence by Macy's, Sears, and J.C. Penney. As of August 2022, the mall is owned by Sand Hill Property Co. and is almost entirely vacant, with Cupertino Ice Center, Bowlmor Lanes, and Benihana as the only remaining tenants, all in the section to the east of Wolfe Road. The larger western portion of the main mall structure was demolished in August 2019 and the pedestrian overpass was demolished in March 2020; plans for the site include a mixed-use development consisting of office space, housing, and retail.
Downtown Norfolk serves as the traditional center of commerce, government, and culture in the Hampton Roads region. Norfolk, Virginia's downtown waterfront shipping and port activities historically played host to numerous and often noxious port and shipping-related uses. With the advent of containerized shipping in the mid-19th century, the shipping uses located on Norfolk's downtown waterfront became obsolete as larger and more modern port facilities opened elsewhere in the region. The vacant piers and cargo warehouses eventually became a blight on downtown and Norfolk's fortunes as a whole. But in the second half of the century, Norfolk had a vibrant retail community in its suburbs; companies like Smith & Welton, High's, Colonial Stores, Goldman's Shoes, Lerner Shops, Hofheimer's, Giant Open Air, Dollar Tree and K & K Toys were regional leaders in their respective fields. Norfolk was also the birthplace of Econo-Travel, now Econo Lodge, one of the nation's first discount motel chains.
The Carousel Mall, also known as Central City Mall, was a mixed-use two-story shopping mall located in San Bernardino, California, along the city's former main downtown street.
CityCentre is a mixed-use development in the Memorial City district of Houston, Texas, located at the southeastern corner of the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8. Opened in 2009, CityCentre is a 50-acre (20-hectare) development with 2.1 million square feet (200,000 m2) of gross floor space, including 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of retail, restaurants and entertainment, a 149,000-square-foot (13,800 m2) fitness facility, 425,000 square feet (39,500 m2) of office space, and a variety of rental and non-rental residential developments. CityCentre has been recognized by the Urban Land Institute as a successful example of walkable, high-density development and progressive site planning in the United States.
Crestwood Court was a shopping mall in Crestwood, Missouri. Opened in 1957, it was the first major mall in the St. Louis area, and one of the first to have more than one department store. The mall previously included Macy's, Dillard's and Sears as anchor stores, all three of which were vacant for at least 5 years before demolition began in May, 2016, resulting in a "dead mall". Demolition was finished in October 2017. A Dierbergs opened at the site of the demolished mall in March of 2023. Decline was first noticeable in the early 2000s, but took off seriously in 2006, when many stores started to close their doors. The announcement the Dillard's would close in August 2007 was critical, because it was the most popular store. Two years later, Macy's closed, which was considered the ultimate dagger. It was by then assumed that Crestwood Mall was not going to be around much longer, and that became official in September 2013, when the exterior Lens Crafters closed their doors.
Agincourt Mall is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the northwest corner of Kennedy Road and Sheppard Avenue, in the Tam O'Shanter – Sullivan neighbourhood of northeastern Toronto. It is named for the adjacent historic village and current Toronto neighbourhood of Agincourt.
A power center or big-box center is a shopping center with typically 250,000 to 600,000 square feet of gross leasable area that usually contains three or more big box anchor tenants and various smaller retailers, where the anchors occupy 75–90% of the total area.
Winter Park Village is an outdoor shopping center in Winter Park, Florida, United States featuring many shops, restaurants, and a 20-screen Regal Cinemas. The center opened in 1999 on the site of the former Winter Park Mall.
Edens Plaza is a strip mall in the town of Wilmette, Illinois. It was built by Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (Carson's) in 1956, and, until 2018, was anchored by one of their stores. It is located on a triangular parcel of land between Lake Avenue, Skokie Boulevard and the Edens Expressway.